Every year on Father’s Day, we celebrate the father figures in our lives. Not only do fathers protect and provide for their families, but they also serve as spiritual leaders in the home, embodying the love shown to us by our heavenly Father. This Father’s Day, reflect on eight quotes from the saints and popes as we thank the Lord for our fathers.
On Forming a Child’s Character
“Every family needs a father — a father who shares in his family’s joy and pain, hands down wisdom to his children, and offers them firm guidance and love.”
— Pope Francis
“Better to instruct a child than to collect riches.” — St. Herve of Brittany
“We take care of our possessions for our children, but the children themselves we take no care of at all. What an absurdity this is! Form the soul of a son aright and the rest will be added afterward.” — St. John Chrysostom
“Love no child of your own so tenderly that you would not be content to sacrifice him to God as Abraham was ready to do for Isaac, if God were to command you to do so. And since we know that God would never do that, offer your child otherwise to God’s service.” — St. Thomas More
On Loving Your Family and Being a Good Example
“A good father knows how to wait and knows how to forgive from the depths of his heart. Certainly, he also knows how to correct with firmness: He is not a weak father, submissive and sentimental. The father who knows how to correct without humiliating is the one who knows how to protect without sparing himself.”
— Pope Francis
“Love for his wife as mother of their children and love for the children themselves are for the man the natural way of understanding and fulfilling his own fatherhood.” — St. Pope John Paul II
“Perfect married life means the spiritual dedication of the parents for the benefit of their children.” — St. Thomas Aquinas
“Happiness is to be found only in the home where God is loved, honored, where each one loves, and helps, and cares for the others.” — St. Theophane Venard
Sources:
“10 Inspiring Catholic Quotes about Fatherhood,” CNA.
A Dictionary of Quotes from the Saints, Dr. Paul Thigpen.